Japan poised to decommission damaged nuclear power plant (2)

Due to the nuclear accident, which was not expected to end anytime soon, TEPCO, Japan's largest utility firm, faces a reduced power generation capability, huge compensation liabilities, and thus a gloomy future. Nationalization has been tabled as an option.

Citing "significant financial obligations," rating agency Moody's on Thursday downgraded TEPCO by three notches.

Meanwhile, flanked by visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Japanese prime minister said Thursday that nuclear power is at the top of the agenda of the May summit of the Group of Eight industrialized economies.

Sarkozy, for his part, said that the summit will release a communique on nuclear issues, while adding that atomic power will remain a viable source of energy as the world needs it to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

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